By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — The Wolves ruled their home slopes as they closed out last week as champions after finishing their divisional races.
The Clarkston Girls Varsity Ski team finished the Pine Knob High School League undefeated going 10-0 and finished with 39 points overall in the league to share first place with Detroit Country Day.
“It’s great,” shared senior captain Cameron Thomas. “We have worked very hard throughout this whole season with the help of our coaches. It’s really exciting to see everyone’s hard work paying off.”
The Clarkston Boys Varsity Ski finished in a three-way tie against Notre Dame Prep and Lake Orion, all three going 10-1. Clarkston won the league with 43 points overall with Notre Dame Prep taking second with 42 points; and Lake Orion, third, 40 points.
“I believe everyone on our team earned the title through hard work and dedication,” said freshman Anthony Ventimiglia. “It’s such an honor and privilege to be apart of this team that has such great talent from everyone.”

The combined overall points for the girls and the boys teams gave Clarkston the most points to win the Costigan Award trophy.
“We are honored that we achieved this award for two consecutive seasons,” said Brian Popelier, head coach.
“Receiving this award was such an honor,” Thomas added. “The team worked so hard to push and challenge ourselves at each and every race, allowing us to achieve the scores we earned.”
“I am incredibly proud of how hard the team has worked to win the division title and receive the Costigan trophy,” said Ventimiglia.
The boys finished in first place in the Slalom Divisionals and had three place in the top ten. on Feb. 4.
Nathan Saker led the team finishing in sixth place in the combined time of 43.69; Ventimiglia, seventh, 43.77; Logan Brown, tenth, 44.55; Jeremy Nord, 14th, 45.83; Wyatt Janczarek, 15th, 45.97; Evan Duty, 32nd, 51.48; and Ryan Bushroe, 47th, 55.88.
The boys finished the Giant Slalom Divisional in second place with Ventimiglia leading in fifth place in the combined time of 35.38; Brown, eighth, 35.87; Savoie, 12th, 36.24; Bushroe, 13th, 36.42; Janczarek, 15th, 36.71; Aiden Pagel, 19th, 37.20; and Ryan McKay, 20th, 37.36.
The girls finished in second place in the Slalom Divisionals on Feb. 4.
Lucy Roeser led the team finishing in seventh place in the combined time of 47.27; Jenna Brown, eighth, 47.90; Lucy Savoie, 16th, 50.38; Chloe Cook, 21st, 53.16; Julia Verbeke, 23rd, 53.51; and Grace Campau, 52nd, 66.73.
The girls finished the Giant Slalom Divisionals in second place with three finishing in the top ten, Feb. 5. Cameron Thomas led the race with a first place finish in the combined time of 35.50; Brown, tied for seventh place, 36.95; Roeser, 11th, 37.88; Savoie, 22nd, 39.30; Cook, 25th, 39.71; Campau, 54th, 46.62; and Matilde Sartorio, 55th, 46.86.
The Wolves opened the week competing in the MHSAA Division 1 Regional 2 at Mt. Holly on Monday.
Thomas shared competing in the Pine Knob prepared her and her teammates.
“Being able to race against all these amazing teams has really motivated us to be the best we could be to prepare us for all the big things to come,” she said.
“This division is super competitive between all of the schools. It gave us the mental and physical strength to be able to overcome our mistakes and preform our best and beat our opponents in the postseason,” said Ventimiglia. “I would like to give a big thanks to all of our great coaches who have gave us great advice on how to improve our skiing and build as a team. Thank you for such a great year and looking forward for more great years to come.”
Clarkston competes in the Southeastern Michigan Ski League Championships at Pine Knob on Tuesday, Feb. 18. The MHSAA Division 1 State Finals is Monday, Feb. 24.

  Clarkston Athletics, Ski